Oil Tanker

ABSTRACT

An oil tanker is provided with a cargo oil delivery pipe for connecting a cargo oil pump in a pump room arranged in front of an engine room in a rear portion of a hull to a shore connection provided nearly in a central portion on the upper deck of the hull, and a cargo suction pipe for connecting the cargo oil pump to a cargo oil tank. The cargo oil delivery pipe is passed through a cargo tank area below the upper deck of the hull and is extended forward from the pump room and is passed through the upper deck and is connected to a cross pipe and is coupled to the shore connection.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an oil tanker, that is, a dedicated oil tanker carrying only crude oil, and a dual-purpose oil tanker carrying not only crude oil but also solid cargo such as ore and coal, and in particular, to an oil tanker having a cargo oil pipe and other piping structure.

BACKGROUND ART

In an oil tanker, as shown in FIG. 9, a cargo oil pump 17 is arranged in a pump room 16 provided in front of an engine room 18 in a stern, and a cargo oil suction pipe 57, which communicates with each cargo tank, and a cargo oil delivery pipe 50, which is connected to a shore connection 48 provided on an upper deck in the central portion of a hull, are connected to the cargo oil pump 17, respectively. When oil (crude oil) is unloaded, oil in each cargo oil tank is sucked by the cargo oil pump 17 through the cargo oil suction pipe 57 and then is sent to the shore connection 48 through the cargo oil delivery pipe 50 and is sent out of the shore connection 48 to an onshore receiving facility. The cargo oil suction pipe 57 is usually passed through a portion as low as possible in the cargo tank so as to increase a suction efficiency. On the other hand, the cargo oil delivery pipe 50 is raised up to the upper deck 30 from the pump room and is passed over the upper deck 30 as it is and is extended to the central portion of the hull.

In this type of piping, the cargo oil delivery pipe 50 laid on the upper deck has a weak point in safety in terms of marine pollution of a leak accident from a cargo oil pipe and easily corrodes when exposed to waves and sea breeze and requires a large amount of money for a maintenance and inspection work. In addition, the cargo oil delivery pipe 50 laid on the upper deck is laid near the central portion of the upper deck, so that the cargo oil delivery pipe 50 obstructs the effective use of the huge upper deck and a passage of a crew and a working car in the left and right direction on the upper deck and reduces the work efficiency of a crew.

However, it is not only the cargo oil delivery pipe that obstructs the passage on the upper deck in the conventional oil tanker. Pipes laid along the upper deck in addition to the cargo oil delivery pipe include a fuel oil loading pipe, a cargo oil stripper pipe, a fire main pipe, a tank cleaning pipe, and a conduit pipe. Further, a crude oil tanker is provided with an inert gas device for preventing an explosion accident and hence has an inert gas main pipe laid on the upper deck near to a bow, the inert gas main pipe being laid from an inert gas generating device arranged in a rear portion of the hull. This also presents the same problem.

In particular, a dual-purpose oil tanker capable of carrying ore and bulk has a hatchway provided in an upper deck and hence presents a more problem for passage on the upper deck. In addition, when ore and coal are loaded, the core and the coal drop on the pipes, which presents also problems such that the pipes need to be covered with a protection cover and that a lot of time is required to remove the dropped ore and coal piled under the protective cover after loading the ore and the coal.

In a case where a cargo oil delivery pipe is broken by an accident of a cargo oil pipe, there is a possibility that marine pollution will be caused.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem

The problem of the present invention is to eliminate various pipes such as a cargo oil pipe from an upper deck of an oil tanker to thereby reduce marine pollution, and use effectively an area on the upper deck, as well as facilitate a passage of a crew and a working car and workability of thereof.

Solution to Problem

A cargo oil piping structure according to the present invention includes: a cargo oil delivery pipe connecting a cargo oil pump in a pump room arranged in front of an engine room in a rear portion of a hull, to a shore connection provided nearly in a central portion on an upper deck of the hull. The cargo oil delivery pipe is extended forward from the pump room, through a plurality of cargo tanks located below the upper deck of the hull, and goes up through the upper deck so as to be connected to a cross pipe which is coupled to the shore connection.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the cargo oil delivery pipe from the upper deck of the oil tanker to thereby reduce marine pollution, and use effectively the area on the upper deck, as well as facilitate a passage of a crew.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an oil tanker.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the oil tanker.

FIG. 3 is an expanded side view of a main portion of the oil tanker.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view to show an another example.

FIG. 5 is a schematic side view of a ship, which shows an example of another arrangement position of a cargo oil delivery pipe.

FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view to show an arrangement of a cross pipe.

FIG. 7 is a schematic side view to show a construction example of a cargo tank of an oil tanker.

FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view of an oil tanker for carrying ore and oil.

FIG. 9 is a schematic side view of a ship, which shows a reference example.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, a dedicated oil tanker carrying only crude oil will be described. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a hull is partitioned by transverse bulkheads 10 and a bow portion 12, a cargo tank area 14, a pump room 16, an engine room 18, and a stern portion 20 are arranged in this order. An accommodation area 22 and a wheelhouse 24 are located above the engine room 18.

The cargo tank area 14, as shown in FIG. 2, has both of the bottom and the side of the ship constructed of a double hull structure and their interiors are constructed of ballast tanks 26, 28, respectively. A space surrounded by the double hull structure and an upper deck 30 is partitioned into a center cargo tank 34 and left and right cargo tanks 36 by longitudinal bulkheads 32 extended longitudinally on the left and right sides.

According to the present invention, there is provided a cargo oil delivery pipe 50 connecting a cargo oil pump 16A in a pump room 16 arranged in front of the engine room 18 in a rear portion of the hull, to a shore connection 48 provided nearly at center of the upper deck 30 of the hull. The cargo oil delivery pipe 50 is extended forward from the pump room 16, through a cargo tank area located below the upper deck 30 of the hull and goes up through the upper deck 30 so as to be connected to a cross pipe 52, which is coupled to the shore connection 48.

Here, the number of pipes of the cargo oil delivery pipe 50 is appropriately selected.

Further, there are provided cargo oil suction pipes 57 connecting the cargo oil pump 16A to, for example, the center cargo tank 34. The number of pipes of the cargo oil suction pipe 57 is appropriately selected.

In the examples shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, a pipe tunnel is not provided but the cargo oil delivery pipe 50 is extended forward from the pump room 16, through a plurality of cargo tanks in the cargo tank area 14 without being covered with anything and changes the direction by going up through the upper deck 30 so as to be connected to the cross pipe 52 which is coupled to the shore connection 48.

It is desirable that the cargo oil delivery pipe 50 is structured without providing a pipe tunnel 42 which is extended through the cargo tank area and without being covered with anything.

Further, it is also desirable that the cargo oil delivery pipe 50 is extended through a plurality of the cargo tanks nearly to a central portion in a horizontal direction and is turned upwardly through the upper deck and to connect to the cross pipe.

There can be employed a structure in which: the cargo tank area 14 has a plurality of cargo tanks in a front and rear direction; the plurality of cargo tanks are linearly arranged; the pipe tunnel 42 is arranged in such a way as to pass through the plurality of cargo tanks and to be in contact with a longitudinal bulkhead 32 of the plurality of cargo tanks; and an uppermost portion of the longitudinal bulkhead constructs a one-side surrounding wall of the pipe tunnel 42.

An inert gas main pipe 58 for sending an inert gas from an inert gas generating device to each cargo tank can be also laid in the pipe tunnel.

In the pipe tunnel 42 can be passed not only the cargo oil delivery pipes but also almost all kinds of pipes laid in a front and rear direction on the upper deck in a conventional ship such as an inert gas pipe, a tank cleaning pipe, a fire main pipe, a conduit pipe, a cargo oil stripper pipe, and a fuel oil loading pipe. This can solve almost all problems such as passage, cleaning, and the corrosion and deterioration of the pipes on the upper deck. In this regard, the inert gas pipe, the tank cleaning pipe, and the fire main pipe need to be laid to a position close to the bow, so it is desirable to extend the pipe tunnel in which these pipes are passed to the position close to the bow.

In this way, the cargo oil delivery pipe is laid below the upper deck, or the pipe tunnel is provided and the cargo oil delivery pipe is received in the pipe tunnel. Hence, when oil leaks from the cargo oil delivery pipe, it is possible to prevent the oil from quickly flowing out into the sea and hence to improve safety. Further, the cargo oil delivery pipe is not laid on the upper deck, which can hence facilitate the passage of a crew or a working car. Still further, the cargo oil delivery pipe passed through the pipe tunnel contributes to prevention of marine pollution and is not exposed to waves and sea breeze and is reduced in the generation of rust and hence is reduced in a maintenance cost, which is different from a case where the cargo oil delivery pipes are laid on the upper deck.

There can be employed a construction in which: a ship-side ballast tank 28 is provided; the pipe tunnel 42 is arranged in such a way as to be in contact with the ship-side ballast tank 28; and the one-side surrounding wall of the pipe tunnel 42 is formed of an inner longitudinal bulkhead of the ship-side ballast tank 28.

In another example, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, a pipe tunnel 42 is provided in such a way as to extend forward from a position of the cross pipe 52 through the cargo tank area and the cargo oil delivery pipes 50 are laid in the pipe tunnel 42.

As shown in FIG. 8, a dual-purpose oil tanker capable of loading a solid cargo such as ore and coal can be used. In this dual-purpose oil tanker, the upper deck 30 has a hatchway 38 formed therein so as to load also an ore cargo in the cargo tank 34 and the hatchway 38 is provided with an oil-tight hatch cover 40 and the pipe tunnel 42 can have its one-side surrounding wall constructed of a hatch side girder 46 which is provided on a lower surface of the upper deck in such a way to pass by a side edge of the hatchway 38.

A pipe tunnel 42 of a sealing structure having a nearly rectangular section is formed in such a way as to be sandwiched between an upper portion of the center cargo tank 34 and the longitudinal bulkhead 32 extended longitudinally and the hatchway 38. A surrounding wall surrounding the pipe tunnel 42 has its upper side constructed of the upper deck 30 and has its outside constructed of the longitudinal bulkhead 32 extended longitudinally, and an inner surrounding wall is formed by the use of a hatch side girder 46 provided on a lower surface of the upper deck 30. In this way, the pipe tunnel 42 has its three faces constructed of hull structure members, specifically speaking, the longitudinal bulkheads 32 extended longitudinally, the upper deck 30 and the hatch side girder 46 which are used in combination, so that the pipe tunnel 42 can be constructed at a low cost.

In this way, the pipe tunnels 42 are formed on both sides of the ship on the back of the upper deck 30 and various pipes laid conventionally on the upper deck are laid in the pipe tunnels 42.

The number of the cargo oil delivery pipes 50 extended from the pump room 16 and toward the shore connection 48 in the central portion of the hull is three in total in the case of this ship. As shown in FIG. 8, two of the three cargo oil delivery pipes 50 are passed through the pipe tunnel 42 on the left side of the ship and the remaining one of them is passed through the pipe tunnel 42 on the right side of the ship. The shore connections 48 on the left side and on the right side of the ship are coupled to each other by the cross pipe 52 and the cargo oil delivery pipes 50 passed through pipe tunnels 42, 42 are pulled out to the top of the upper deck 30 in the central portion of the hull and are connected to the cross pipe 52.

In addition, the pipe tunnels 42 can receive also pipes 54 connected to the shore connections 48, for example, a fuel oil loading pipe and a cargo oil stripper pipe.

This ship is constructed in such a way as to suck an inert gas (which is acquired by processing the exhaust gas of a main boiler and hardly contains oxygen) in place of outside air into the cargo tank so as to prevent an explosion accident of the cargo tank when the cargo tank is brought into a negative pressure at the time of unloading or during voyage. A pipe for sending the inert gas (inert gas pipe 58) is a large diameter pipe having a diameter nearly equal to a diameter of the cargo oil delivery pipe 50 and the inert gas pipe 58 is laid to a portion close to the bow through the pipe tunnel 42. The inert gas pipe 58 has a branch pipe (not shown in the drawing) branched therefrom and the branch pipe is passed over the upper deck and is extended to the respective cargo tanks 34, 36.

An operation of opening or closing a valve and a maintenance and inspection work are conducted in the pipe tunnel 42, so that the pipe tunnel 42 can have a plurality of doorways provided therein so as to make it possible for a crew to come in and out of the pipe tunnel 42 from the upper deck 30 and the doorways are constructed in such a way as to be closed by a water-tight door. Further, it is also important to make the interior of the pipe tunnel 42 large enough for a crew to pass through.

In order to prevent a combustible gas from storing and causing a fire accident, it is preferable to provide the pipe tunnel 42 with a ventilation device, a gas sensor, and a fire extinguisher (for example, carbon dioxide type).

In the embodiment described above, the pipe tunnels 42 are provided in the uppermost portion of the longitudinal bulkhead 32 extended longitudinally, but the pipe tunnels 42 can be arranged at appropriate positions selected in the cross section of the hull.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, a group of stringer members 60 can be provided by welding on the outer surfaces of the respective longitudinal bulkheads 32 extended longitudinally of the cargo tank 34 along a longitudinal direction, and the group of stringer members 60 is joined to the hull by welding.

In this example, rigidity can be increased not only by the group of stringer members 60 but also preferably by the pipe tunnels 42. Hence, if the group of stringer members 60 are not provided on the inner surface of the cargo tank 34, or even in a case where the group of stringer members 60 are provided, if the group of stringer members 60 are reduced in number, it is possible to prevent sludge from depositing in the cargo tank 34 and hence to increase the amount of the cargo oil. This can facilitate a crude oil cleaning, a tank cleaning, and a sludge unloading and, in particular, can remarkably simplify various works before docking.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

-   16 Pump room -   28 Ballast tank (Double hull structure of the side of ship) -   30 Upper deck -   32 Longitudinal bulkhead extended longitudinally -   34 Center cargo tank -   36 Left and right cargo tanks -   38 Hatchway -   42 Pipe tunnel -   46 Hatch side girder -   48 Shore connection -   50 Cargo oil delivery pipe -   57 Cargo oil suction pipe -   58 Inert gas pipe 

1. An oil tanker comprising: a cargo oil delivery pipe for connecting a cargo oil pump in a pump room arranged in front of an engine room in a rear portion of a hull to a shore connection provided nearly in a central portion on an upper deck of the hull, and a cargo oil suction pipe for connecting the cargo oil pump to a cargo oil tank, wherein the cargo oil delivery pipe is passed through a cargo tank area below the upper deck of the hull and is extended forward from the pump room and is passed through the upper deck and is connected to a cross pipe and is coupled to the shore connection.
 2. The oil tanker as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cargo oil delivery pipe is passed through the cargo tank area without providing a pipe tunnel and without being covered with anything and is extended forward from the pump room and is passed through the upper deck and is connected to the cross pipe and is coupled to the shore connection.
 3. The oil tanker as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cargo tank area is partitioned so as to have a plurality of cargo tanks and the pipe tunnel is passed from the pump room through a plurality of the cargo tanks and is extended nearly to the central portion in a horizontal direction and is turned upwardly through the upper deck and to connect to the cross pipe. 